Cuisine is the best way to connect to a culture. Variety in a certain type of cuisine is a cherry on top. Literally. Arab cuisine is so vast and expansive that it has influenced many food cultures surrounding it. Hummus and falafel are staple to-go foods all across the world. In fact, New Yorkers have been eating falafel for over 50 years!
From Kinafa to Shawarma, dishes made in the region have a taste of their own. Every middle eastern dish has its own personality, signature and taste. Mansaf for example is a Jordanian dish made of lamb cooked in fermented dried yogurt. The herbs mixed with the dish are given a special taste due to regional restrictions. Imagine, a dish that can only be prepared in its native land.
Speaking of unique, Mandi is a succulent rice and meat dish with origins in Yemen. Mandi is made by digging a hole in the ground, chucking in charcoal, then adding the meat on top of it covered in banana leaf, and lastly the hole is covered by sand to help insulate and tenderize the meat. However, when the summers get hot, meat gets the same treatment without the charcoal. The meat is left to cook for days. Imagine, meat that has three days to cook among its marinades and herbs. Imagine the layers of taste, the depth of each bite deeper than before. This is just the tip of the iceberg. Arab Cuisine doesn’t deserve an article, it deserves a series of articles.
